San Leandro: Construction equipment company worker killed in industrial accident

By Natalie Neysa Alund Bay Area News Group

Posted:
02/14/2014 06:51:33 AM PST

Updated:
02/14/2014 06:51:59 AM PST

SAN LEANDRO -- A construction equipment company worker died Thursday morning after being crushed by machinery in what state officials say appears to be an industrial accident.

Police and emergency crews were dispatched at 9:30 a.m. to Volvo Construction Equipment & Services at 1944 Marina Boulevard, just south of Interstate 880 for a report of an injured employee, a San Leandro police dispatcher said.

The employee, a 48-year-old mechanic from Castro Valley, had been crushed by heavy equipment and was pronounced dead at the scene, said Peter Melton, spokesman for the state Division of Occupational Safety and Health -- the agency investigating the worker's death.

So far investigators have determined the employee was killed by a front-end wheel loader -- machinery that moves dirt and pushes heavy objects.

"It appears he was underneath it servicing it and somehow it fell on him," Melton said.

An autopsy is schedule to take place tomorrow to determine the man's cause of death, an Alameda County Coroner's Office spokeswoman said. His identity was not released pending notification of his next of kin.